Basic rate of statutory maternity and parental pay set at £156.66 per week from April 2022

The basic rate of statutory maternity and parental pay from April 2022 is £156.66 per week, Maternity Action said in a report published in August 2022¹. The charity said this equates to 47% of the National Living Wage for a 35-hour week at the adult rate of £9.50 per hour¹.

The report compared the rate with earlier years. It said that in 2012 the basic rate equated to 62.5% of a 35-hour week on the National Living Wage, previously known as the National Minimum Wage¹. Measured against women's median weekly earnings, the charity said the value of the basic rate of maternity, paternity and parental pay had fallen from 42% in 2012 to 37% from April 2022¹. It added that a new mother on Statutory Maternity Pay is "expected to survive for up to 33 weeks on not much more than a third of women's average earnings"¹.

The report also set out differences between payments. It said Maternity Allowance is paid at a flat rate, without the initial six weeks at 90% of income that Statutory Maternity Pay provides, leaving women on Maternity Allowance up to £5,000 worse off than women in similar circumstances receiving Statutory Maternity Pay¹. On other support, it said Healthy Start food vouchers are available to women on Universal Credit whose income from employment, including maternity pay, is less than £408 per month, and that the Sure Start Maternity Grant is restricted to first children or first multiple births, unlike the Scottish Best Start grant¹.

The charity's report drew on a self-selecting survey of 983 women who had been on maternity leave from work at any point between January 2021 and March 2022, promoted in February and March 2022¹. It reported that 64% of respondents said they worried a lot about money while pregnant or on maternity leave, 51% said they had relied on a credit card or borrowed money, and 2% had used a food bank during that time¹. Of respondents returning to work, 52% said they had returned earlier than planned because of money worries¹. The report said 10% of respondents were in receipt of Maternity Allowance rather than Statutory Maternity Pay, and that less than 1% reported receiving each of the Sure Start Maternity Grant, Healthy Start or the Scottish Best Start grant and food vouchers¹.

The report was published against a background of rising costs. It said the price caps on energy bills set by Ofgem rose sharply by 54% in April 2022, taking a household buying the typical amount from £1,277 a year to £1,971, with pre-payment bills rising by £708 from £1,309 to £2,017¹. It also cited Office for National Statistics figures showing the Consumer Prices Index rose by 7.0% in the 12 months to March 2022, up from 6.2% in February¹.

The Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986, as revised, set out the framework for the payment, including that the maternity pay period is 39 consecutive weeks². The revised text records a weekly rate of £194.32 in the provision on the rate of statutory maternity pay, with a note that the sum in regulation 6 was substituted with effect from April 2026 by the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026². The regulations were made on 17 November 1986 and laid before Parliament on 24 November 1986, with regulations 1, 22 and 23 coming into operation on 15 March 1987 and the remainder on 6 April 1987².

Why it matters for households

Statutory maternity pay and the flat-rate maternity and parental payments are set by central government, so the £156.66 weekly basic rate from April 2022 applies to those receiving the basic rate rather than the higher earnings-related element. The report's comparison with the National Living Wage and with women's median weekly earnings describes how far the payment stretches relative to pay, at a time when energy bills and consumer prices were rising¹.

The survey findings describe the household effects reported by respondents: borrowing, drawing on savings, cutting back on food and heating, and returning to work sooner than planned¹. The report also notes that eligibility for Healthy Start vouchers depends on income from employment, including maternity pay, being below £408 per month, and that the Sure Start Maternity Grant is limited to first children or first multiple births¹.

What happens next

The report calls for the basic rate to be at least doubled to £332.50 per week, equivalent to the legal minimum wage as of April 2022¹. No further dated changes to the basic rate beyond those set out above are reported in these sources.